


While You Here Do Snoring Lie

by StarsCrackedOpen (Misthia)



Series: Things Carried, Unseen [7]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alien Biology, Developing Friendships, Gen, Humor, Insomnia, Jedi Training (Star Wars), Light-Hearted, Master & Padawan Relationship(s), Pre-Relationship, Sparring, snoring
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:01:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27628552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Misthia/pseuds/StarsCrackedOpen
Summary: Anakin hadn’t been joking when he’d compared Obi-Wan to a Handooine jet engine, though Ahsoka thought he sounded more like a wookiee with a head cold.Or: In which Obi-Wan’s snoring keeps everyone up, Anakin has some tricks up his sleeve, and Ahsoka gets a glimpse into Anakin’s time as a padawan.
Relationships: Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker/Ahsoka Tano, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Ahsoka Tano, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker
Series: Things Carried, Unseen [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1839160
Comments: 23
Kudos: 181





	While You Here Do Snoring Lie

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Back again. I should be sleeping, but I wanted to finally get this posted. Lighthearted, inspired by a line way back in the second piece I wrote for this series. Might need more editing, it's pretty late my time. 
> 
> Title is borrowed from “The Tempest,” and as usual I own and make nothing from this.

* * *

_“Thou dost snore distinctly._   
_There’s meaning in thy snores.”_

_\- William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act II, scene I_

* * *

For the first time in weeks, Ahsoka missed the temple.

On the whole, life as a padawan in the field was exciting. She was enjoying the missions and campaigns. She didn’t notice the aftertaste of the ration bars as much, or wake up sore and stiff from the cots anymore. She was getting used to sharing a tent with her master, learning that he sprawled out when he slept, long legs often sticking out over the end of the cot. She’d learned to leave extra space to walk _around_ after crashing into his shins a couple of times.

New as all of this was, sharing a tent really didn’t _feel_ that new. After years in the crèche and initiate clan,living in dorms, falling asleep to the sound of another person’s breathing was familiar. Even comforting.

But now it wasn’t Anakin’s even breathing nearby, and there was nothing soothing about this.

_“Hhhhhhhhhhuuuuuaaaaaaakkkkhhhhhhhh”_

Her master was still off somewhere replacing a corroded plate on Artoo, and so she was in a dim tent on this strange world with Obi-Wan Kenobi, who was snoring loudly enough to wake the dead. It didn’t help that due to the Seppies causing supply line issues, it was also a smaller tent than usual, with just enough room for their three cots and space to edge between them.

She’d never shared quarters with him before. The sounds he was making were so _rough_ that at first she’d feared something was horribly wrong with him. For a split second she’d thought she’d have to find Kix, until she remembered her master’s comment a few weeks prior.

Anakin hadn’t been joking when he’d compared Obi-Wan to a Handooine jet engine, though Ahsoka thought he sounded more like a wookiee with a head cold. In the smallish tent, the air seemed to reverberate with the decidedly un-tranquil noises coming from the Jedi master. It grated on her montrals. She was starting to wonder if she could bunk in the supply tent.

_“Hhhhhhhhhuuuuuuaaaaaaahhhhhhuh”_

Ahsoka might as well have tried to sleep next to an _actual_ jet engine for all the good it would do her.

She glanced at the empty cot between herself and Obi-Wan, and hoped Anakin would be done soon. Not that he’d be able to stop the snoring, but maybe he’d make a good sound buffer.

_“Hhhhuuuaaaaaaaaaauckkkkkkh”_

Time passed, whether minutes or hours she didn’t know. She was starting to wonder if her master had found somewhere quieter to sleep — and if maybe she really should go to the supply tent — when the flap shifted and Anakin ducked in. She saw him straighten, and his eyebrows shot up at the sounds coming from Obi-Wan’s side of the tent. Anakin turned to look in her direction, but she wasn’t sure if he could make out her frown in the low light. She’d learned that humans didn’t see as well as togruta in the dark.

He shuffled along the narrow space between the cots and reached out a hand to his old master. Ahsoka sat up, propping herself on her elbows and watching curiously as he brushed the back of his fingers at Obi-Wan’s beard. Obi-Wan grunted and turned over, and...

_Silence._

Ahsoka blinked. That was a good trick.

Anakin turned, shaking his head and looking amused. “G’night Snips,” he whispered, and stretched out on his cot with a sigh.

She laid back down. She was finally drifting off when —

_“Hhhhhhhhuuuuuuaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhkkkkkkk”_

She jolted fully awake again, startled. Listening to Obi-Wan’s renewed droning, she wondered how he could possibly be so _loud_.

Ahsoka flopped around to face the cause of her insomnia, glaring in annoyance. She did so just in time to see her master shift as well, then heard what sounded like a boot heel _thud_ against a metal cot frame.

Again a muffled grunt, then silence. One breath...two...three...

_“HHRRRRRUUUUUUUUUUUUUKKKHHHH”_

Ahsoka flipped back over, staring at the tent wall. Now Obi-Wan sounded even louder. She felt a sudden and irrational urge to scream.

Another harsh snore from the other side of the tent, and she dragged her blanket off and bundled it up around her montrals. It didn’t help much with the sound, and now she was _cold_ too.

_“HhhhhhhhkkkkkkkkkkkhhhhhhHRK”_

She rolled over again with a huff, resolving to take her blanket and actually sleep in the supply tent — and found her master facing her, eyes open. She made a face and let her frustration vent through the bond.

_HOW??_

He rolled his eyes and shook his head, then sat up and nodded at the tent flap. Ahsoka yanked the blanket off her head and followed him out, worn out but grateful to be away from — _that_.

As soon as they were out of the tent, she turned to him with an incredulous look. “How have you been able to sleep for the last ten years?”

“It’s usually not that bad.” Anakin scrubbed his face with his hands. “It was hard, at first. Then I guess I got used to it. But tonight —” He shook his head. “That’s the worst it’s been in a while.” He eyed her tired, slightly rumpled form.

“I suppose it’s worse for you,” he said, nodding at her montrals. She absently brushed a hand over one of the peaks and looked at his ears, trying to imagine what it would be like to hear through only a hole on each side of her head. It was a strange thought.

“It’s a small space and he’s so _loud_.” She tilted her head. “I don’t know if it’s the same for your ears, but when a noise is loud and close by, I sometimes feel it vibrate against my montrals."

He _hmm_ ’ed, considering. “We can feel sounds vibrate against our eardrums if they’re loud enough, but snoring isn’t enough to do it.” He smiled wryly. “Even Obi-Wan’s.”

Ahsoka looked at him strangely, caught on a word. “Ear... _drums_?”

Her master shook his head. “Ehh...another time. C’mon.”

She fell into step beside him as they wound their way through the camp. “The beard trick — that worked well.”

Anakin snorted. “Usually it lasts longer. I figured it out when I was ten, after I hadn’t slept in two nights.” Ahsoka tilted her head, looking him up and down with a critical eye. After a moment he noticed her intent inspection. “What?”

Her expression didn’t change. “I’m trying to imagine you as a ten year old, Skyguy. It’s hard.”

His eyes narrowed. “If _you_ get much louder, I’ll have to figure out a trick to make you stop too.” Ahsoka looked up, confused, and he smirked. “ _Your_ snoring.”

Her brow furrowed. “I don’t—”

He grinned. “It’s only sometimes.”

Ahsoka felt her lekku flush. He was _obviously_ just trying to get her off-balance. “I do _not_ snore!” Anakin raised an eyebrow.

“Whatever you say.”

Ahsoka rolled her eyes and stopped, crossing her arms. “Where are we going?” Anakin turned to her.

“You’ll get used to the sounds of camp, padawan, but war is loud, and you need to be able to sleep whenever and wherever you get the chance. If you can’t sleep through Obi-Wan’s snoring, it just means you’re not tired enough.”

“You’re not sleeping either,” she interjected.

“Which _means_ ,” he said with a pointed look, “That I’m not tired enough. Come on, Snips.”

Ahsoka pursed her lips at him skeptically, but followed him again, to the edge of camp. The clones keeping watch saluted them as they passed. Grassy plains stretched out in front of them, and about fifteen meters out he stopped.

“Sparring is one of the better ways I’ve found to wear myself out. Though,” he paused, igniting his saber and dialing it down. “I haven’t always had someone to spar with. I guess having a padawan has some perks after all. Ready position.”

She slid into it, saber drawn. After a moment he rushed her.

Ahsoka always enjoyed sparring, and this was no exception. This time she added more flips and handsprings than were strictly necessary, trying to wear herself down. The clones guarding camp were watching, not accustomed to seeing Jedi spar.

The twin moons glowed, and their blades clashed. A clever lunge and twist, and Anakin had disarmed her, lightsaber flying. She made a low noise of frustration.

 _Someday_ she’d manage to land a hit on him. Ahsoka reached out, recalling her saber. Anakin smirked.

“Not bad. Worn out yet?”

“Not yet,” she responded, flipping her saber to the reverse grip that usually made him grimace. He shook his head.

“Better work harder. Obi-Wan won’t be any quieter when we get back.” He raised his lightsaber. “Again.”

She leapt at him.

This round they both moved faster — at least to start. She could feel herself slowing down, the long day catching up to her. Anakin was also slowing, and so she launched herself at him once more, putting all she had left into it. He deflected, batting her back, and she let the momentum carry her, landing lightly on her feet.

He lowered his lightsaber. “I can tell you’re tired now.”

She shrugged, taking measure. She felt the exertion in her muscles, but her mind felt sharper and less weary than before. “Yes, but I also feel more _awake_ now too.”

Anakin laughed lowly, and suddenly looked exhausted himself. “That’ll go away as soon as you lie down. Trust me.”

They returned to the tent, slipping in as quietly as they’d left, though Ahsoka privately thought that even a cantina band couldn’t wake Obi-Wan. He was still snoring, but mercifully it seemed quieter now — or it could have been the fatigue settling into her bones.

She climbed onto her cot and wrapped herself in her blanket. As she settled into place, muscles unwinding, Ahsoka found her eyelids were suddenly impossibly heavy. Obi-Wan’s snoring seemed further away.

Maybe her master was onto something.

Said master had once again stretched out, folding his arms behind his head. He glanced in her direction.

“‘’Night Snips,” he said for the second time that evening, and Ahsoka managed a sleepy smile in return.Anakin’s eyes closed, the corner of his mouth curled upward briefly, and then his face and the bond slackened as he fell asleep.

Ahsoka was soon drifting. Suspended in the pleasant twilight between wakefulness and slumber, her vision and thoughts slid in and out of focus. Warm exhaustion pulled her down.

In this inbetween, a fragment of earlier conversation floated up. Ahsoka’s eyes opened and she blinked slowly at her master. In the haziness, the lines of his face blurred, his profile softening. For just a moment, buried under the knight and general, she caught a glimpse of the ten-year-old boy he’d once been.

“Can see you now,” she mumbled, and then the soft oblivion of sleep overtook her too.

**_Fin._ **

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Please let me know what you think — good, bad, or otherwise! Comments make my day.
> 
> The beard trick — it actually works, in my experience; it wasn’t made up simply for the story.
> 
> (Side note: Is anyone else strangely apprehensive about live-action Ahsoka?)


End file.
